Mouthpiece for speaking-tubes.



No. 718,809. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903. J. 0. BAHR. MOUTHPIECE FOR SPEAKING TUBES;

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 1902.

30 MODEL.

UNirnn TATES- PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH C. BAHR, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

MOUTH PIECE FOR SPEAKlNG-TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,809, dated J anuary 20, 1903.

Application filed July 17, 1902. Serial No. 115,905. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. BAHR, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, haveinvented an Improvement in Mouthpieces for Speaking-Tubes; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame.

My invention relates to a mouthpiece which is designed for speaking-tubes, and especially for such tubes as are used upon war and other ships or in other positions where they are exposed to the weather and also where a large number of tubes are concentrated at one point.

The object of my invention is to provide a protection and closure for the mouths of such tubes when not in use, an indicator, which is opened by the blast upon the whistle when one of the tubes is in use, and a means for opening the tube, so as to leave it entirely unimpeded for speaking purposes.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is part side elevation and section with mouthpiece closed. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a front view after whistle has been blown, with cap for-whistle down. Fig. 4 shows mouthpiece open, cap 2 raised.

A is the mouthpiece of a speaking-tube, made bell-shaped in the usual manner for convenient use and having a tubular extension, as at B, which adapts it to be fitted into the end of the conductingtube at the point where it is to be used. It will be understood that these tubes may be made of any suitable or desired size or material and adapted to fit any size of conducting-tube by reducers or other well-known devices.

To the top of the mouthpiece A is hinged a cover 2, so shaped as to fit over and close the mouthpiece, and this hinged cover is adapted to latch at the bottom and may have a pin or other device, as at 3, by which it can be readily opened. Within this cover is a supplemental tube 4-, which when the cover is closed forms a continuation in line with the extension B of the mouthpiece, and within this tube a is fixed the whistle or alarm 5. The outer end of the tube 4 projects slightly beyond the concaved outer face of the cover 2 and has hinged to its lower side a cap or cover 6. This cap or cover is closed upwardly over the end of the tube 4 and is held by a small point or any suitable friction device which will prevent its being opened under ordinary conditions, but which will yield to allow it to be opened when the whistle is blown. The two caps being thus closed, the speaking tube or tubes, which may be exposed at different parts of a vessel Where the wind and rain would have access to them to give a false alarm, or where they might be splashed with the waves or with water used for washing down, are entirely closed and protected from the wind or water.

When the tube is to be used, the cover 2 is opened by the speaker and, blowing through the tube, the second cap or cover 6 of the receiver is forced open by the blast of air, which at the same time sounds the whistle. The latter is provided with a series of perforations 7 sufficient to allow enough air, in conjunction with that passing through the central alarm-aperture, to form acompression in the tube between the whistle and cover to throw down the latter. At the same time these perforations are neither so large nor so numerous as to prevent the operation of the whistle after the cover is down. As this cover is hinged at the lower side, as shown at 7, it will drop down by gravitation, thus indicating from which of a series of tubes the call emanates, and this is important where a number of tubes are concentrated at one point, as is often the case, especially upon ships or in large buildings or works. Attention being called by the sound, the open cover indicates at once from which tube the call has come, and it is found by experience that this is much more rapid than by the use of electrical annunciators or similar devices. If desired, each cover 6 may have printed upon its outside the department or room with which its tube communicates, and a similar marking could appear on the inside of the cover, thus showing to both sender and receiver which tube to operate or to answer. The call having been noted, the cap or cover 2 is then opened, being turned upwardly about its hinge 2, which is located at the top of the mouthpiece, and this exposes the full opening of the tube to the speaker. At the same time the turning up of the outer cover 2 causes the cap 6 to close by gravitation and without other care, and it is held in position by its light latch until again displaced, after the outer cap is closed, by another blast of the Whistle.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a speaking-tube mouthpiece, of a cap havingits upper portion hinged to the upper edge of the mouthpiece, and having locking means at the lower edge; said cap having front and rear extensions one of said extensions provided with a signaling device; and a gravity-actuated indicatorcover hinged at its bottom to the lower front end of the front extension of the cap, said hand.

JOSEPH O. BAHR. Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, JESSIE O. BRODIE. 

